Monday, September 24, 2007

Enon's High Society has a place somewhere amongst my favourite albums of all time, and their first album Believo! is a criminally underappreciated gem. However, they've been sort of levelling ever since, and in my opinion none of their recent creative output has surpassed those first two records. Grass Geysers... Carbon Clouds is another decent offering from the band (and their 4th official LP, considering 2005's Lost Marbles and Exploded Evidence was merely a compilation) featuring their unpredictable pop melodies and a mixture of fuzzed out guitars and noise. There aren't many electronic elements this time around, and it feels like an attempt to return to a somewhat straightforward rock sound. Initially, I thought the album seemed a little less interesting because of this approach, but more and more I find myself really getting into it. Fans of Deerhoof should find something to latch onto here, along with fans of John Schmersal and Toko Yasuda's previous bands Brainiac and Blonde Redhead. Grass Geysers... Carbon Clouds hits stores on October 9th.

The nebulous genre of "math rock" can be interpreted in a lot of ways; by my reckoning it lies somewhere within the realm of punk, tech metal, experimental and progressive rock (a broad spectrum indeed). But the strange thing is, whenever you stumble across a band that falls into this category, there is absolutely no mistaking it. The intricate guitar riffs, complex percussion and awesome synchronized cacophony of rock power just knocks you on your ass, and that's how you know. This is precisely what happened the first time I heard Cinemechanica. I found out about this band because they moonlight as the Nintendo-themed cover bands Contraband, Megaband, and Ninjagaidenband (apparently math rock and video game music go hand in hand, as Hella's Spencer Seim also plays in The Advantage). For some reason I didn't expect their original stuff to be all that interesting, but damn... their album The Martial Arts is some of the best math rock I've heard since North of America. Also worth checking out is Bryant and Jeremy's other band, Serka.

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Muzak For Cybernetics (www.indierockblog.com) is a daily music video blog that also occasionally posts MP3s and music news. We feature indie rock, electronic, hip-hop, experimental and everything in between. Our goal is to celebrate the art of music videos, and to introduce you to your new favourite band!